“Wagner’s music is
better than it sounds.”  Mark Twain

As a classical music lover, I do very much enjoy Wagner’s
music but without the words!  His operas
are overlong and tedious as hell.  But an
album titled “Wagner’s ‘Ring’ Without Words” is gorgeous stuff. 

“Art is long and life
is short: here is evidently the explanation of a Brahms symphony.”  Edward Lorne

I once had a friend, also a classical music lover, who tried
to convince me how superior Brahms’ 4 symphonies were.  He failed.  I found them boring and without much life.  Thus I regard Brahms as very over-rated.

“Exit in case of
Brahms.”  Philip Hale’s proposed
inscription over the doors of Boston Symphony Hall.  See above.

“The sound of a
harpsichord—two skeletons copulating on a thin roof in a thunderstorm.”  Sir Thomas Beecham

I love Bach, who wrote a lot for harpsichord, but that is
the one instrument that I cannot listen to without getting a headache.

“Beethoven always
sounds to me like an upsetting of a bag of nails, with here and there an also
dropped hammer.”   John Ruskin

How can anyone not swoon over Beethoven’s music?  Has anything ever been composed greater than
his 9^th Symphony?  Plus, he
wrote it, then conducted it, when he was deaf!

“Rossini would have
been a great composer if his teacher had spanked him enough on his backside.”   Ludwig Van Beethoven

Despite Beethoven’s apparent negative feelings about
Rossini, I love listening to his many rousing opera overtures.  I picture Rossini at a dining table with lots
of food piled high in front of him, a turkey leg in one hand, a mug of brew in
the other. 

“His music used to be
original. Now it is aboriginal.”  Sir
Ernest Newman, on Igor Stravinsky

After Prokofiev, Stravinsky is my favorite Russian
composer.  The Rite of Spring is
stunning, especially in spring!

“Madam, you have between
your legs an instrument capable of giving pleasure to thousands—and all you can
do is scratch it.”  Sir Thomas
Beecham to a lady cellist

On that note, I better quit.